Further Reading

Its multi-billion pound buyout of the mobile operator has continued to boost sales at the telecoms giant, which saw a 35 percent climb in revenue to £6.01 billion in the three months ended September 30, while pre-tax profit stood at £671 million—up five percent.

Aside from EE's numbers, however, BT reported a very conservative 1.1 percent climb in total sales during its Q2.

BT's boss Gavin Patterson said that the company was satisfied with the results, despite a ballooning £9.5 billion pension deficit, concerns about the "challenging" UK public sector market, and gripes about Sterling's plummeting value continuing to hit its bulging wallet.

On 4 October 2016, we and other stakeholders submitted responses to Ofcom's proposals for strengthening Openreach’s strategic and operational independence. We remain of the view that our own proposals for significant governance change provide every benefit that Ofcom is seeking while avoiding extensive, disproportionate costs.

We will continue to engage with Ofcom over the coming months.

It's a statement that suggests BT remains unmoved by the UK's communications watchdog's preliminary decision— chunks of which Patterson and his underlings have repeatedly challenged, despite the proposals stopping short of an outright divorce of the firm's infrastructure wing from the rest of the business.

Further Reading

Ars sought an update from Ofcom on when BT and its rivals will learn of the fate of Openreach. A spokesperson told us: "We’ve received a large volume of responses, and we need to assess all of those carefully. So no timetable at this stage."

BT shares—which have tumbled this year in the wake of Ofcom's review and the company's burgeoning pension deficit—fell more than three percent to £3.74 on the London Stock Exchange on Thursday morning.